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  The Society for Consumer Advocates and Mavens

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MOISTURIZERS, SOAPS, AND WRINKLE REMOVERS

Consider only buying lower priced, drugstore brand names instead of costly department store products. You may not see any dramatic improvements like those you see at the cosmetic counter or on TV and elsewhere in advertisements.

There is not much you can do to stop skin from aging especially deep wrinkles, so keep your skin clean, moisturized and protected from the sun. Creative exaggeration or sales "hype" is used to promote scientific and exotic ingredients.

Moisturizers work essentially the same on dark skin as they do on light skin despite what claims may be advertised or promoted. Facial moisturizers and less costly all-purpose body creams may actually work about the same! You will always pay more for "perceived differences" in cosmetics as advertised claims are virtually meaningless!

No amount of moisturizers, creams or soaps can replace a good sunscreen in trying to control wrinkling so pricey, over-the-counter moisturizers' effectiveness may be questionable as cheaper brands may work as well as any overpriced brand.

Cosmetics claiming they can give you some sort of "lift", "firming up" or "thinnning" may be highly suspect and there is little, if any, scientific evidence, to date, to support these claims short of cosmetic surgery. Claims of adding "elasticity" back to the skin cannot be proven scientifically so beware of in-store counter salespeople.

Grandiose advertised claims to sell these products go unregulated by the government. Beware of products being sold that claim to "fill-in" or "smoothe out" facial lines. Even the manufacturers of these type products may not believe the exaggerated claims being used by over-the-counter salespeople in department stores and elsewhere.

So-called "all natural" ingredients extracted from plants may sound potent and soothing but the actual extraction process may actually take away many of the possible benefits from the natural source leaving the end product with little or no lasting effects or potency whatsoever!

Age spot and wrinkle removers sold over-the-counter may be virtually worthless compared to formulas offered by dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons. Also, using a good sunscreen may help some sun spots on your skin from getting darker.

Wrinkle remover "dream creams" containing low levels of alpha hydroxy acid sold over-the-counter may be highly suspect in smoothing out the skin which is why they are only supposed to advertise that they may give you the "appearance" of smoother-looking skin! It takes an 8% to 10% acid solution applied only by a physician to really "change" your skin. There have also been minor injuries reported by consumers using even low level 4% to 5% acid formulas.

Beware of "trick" photography used to sell any over-the-counter cosmetics. If you look closely you may see harsher, darker shadows used in lighting the "before" pictures and much softer, lighter shadows or even shadowless lighting used in "after" pictures. The same goes for facial laser surgery testimonial pictures too!

The biggest difference between all cosmetic products is in what they cost you to buy them! Some over-the-counter alpha hydroxy products range from $1 per ounce at drugstores to $45 an ounce elsewhere! Wrinkle creams may be nothing more than fancy-sounding moisturizers so beware of promotional language used to sell them. Expensive wrinkle creams may do nothing more than a cheap moisturizer!

Incidentally, the testing of many cosmetic products may be done on younger women so if you are over the age of 50 the effects may be more questionable and side effects more pronounced!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES: ABC-TV 20/20 11/15/96 and CNBC-TV STEALS AND DEALS 4/17/95 and 4/16/96 and HARD COPY TV NEWS 8/14/97

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